Global Perspectives Assessment

Global PerspectivesAssessment

University of Phoenix

CJA/484

October 31, 2011

Leon Kutzke

Abstract

Because of recent changes in communication, transportation, and commerce, crime has become a global occurrence. Given that notion, criminology itself must become global in its capacity. Some criminologists state that criminals are like a virus; they evolve over time and change as do their victims by taking measures to prevent crime. Various global trends will determine how criminal justice is administered. This paper will discuss the different impacts on criminal justice from a global perspective.

Criminal Justice from Global Perspectives

Crime and justice are no longer just a state or national issue; it has become a global issue. The United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operation of Criminal Justice Systems (UNCJS) have collected data to assist the criminal justice system, and other organizations to determine crime trends and the impact they have on the organizations. Drawing on data and research has assisted a wide variety of crime prevention programs within the criminal justice and the dedication of international and national organizations in boosting expertise and the competence in crime deterrence (Newman, n.d.).

Impact of Globalization

As globalization has broadened the international trade market, so have the activitiesof organized crime. The traditional tiers of organized crime groups has decreased,and have been replaced with formless networks who operate together to usenew opportunities. An example of this occurs when organized crime groups participating in drug trafficking isusually involved in trafficking of other unlawful property (No Author, 2011, UNODC). Globalization has aided human trafficking, drug trafficking, white collar crimes, and other crimes according to sources. These trends have driven more global support among criminal justice systems around the world.

Global organized crime is thought of as one of the foremost threats to societysecurity with hindering the social, economic, political, and cultural improvements worldwide. Thiscomplex occurrence and has revealed itself in various activities from, drug trafficking, human trafficking, weapons trafficking,money laundering.Drug trafficking is one of the more specificprincipleactivities of organized crime groups, producing huge profits. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)is involved directly with government agencies, international organizations, and civil society to reinforce collaboration torespond to the effect of organized crime and drug trafficking (No Author, 2011, UNODC).

Common Law

The international criminal justice system was basedon the English common law, which were the laws of the courts as conveyed in judicial verdicts. The justification for deciding cases were established from the precedents provided by past verdicts, as compared to the civil law system, which were established on rulings and prescribed writings. Besides the system of legal precedents, common law ensured that the trial was determined by a jury panel and the policy of the supremacy of the law. In the beginning, supremacy of the law meant that not even the king was above the law. With the law today, supremacy means that functions of government agencies are open to inquiry in routine legal procedures (Vitamanti, 2007).

English common law consisted of the traditions and practices of British judges that have been passed down from judge to judge over the centuries. The whole premise behind common law was that they were not written down as exact legal rules but rather as general regulations to guide judges with his or her judicial rulings in court. Common law was used to inform individuals of the different types of positive law,and because of this, American positive law matured out of the traditions and practices of England (Vitamanti, 2007).

Two of the key characteristics of English common law that helped educated American law with establishing these standards:

Cyber Crime and Technology

• Due process of law- The theory of due process derived from English Common Law. The directive that individuals shall not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without notice and a chance to defend themselves precedes written constitutions and was commonly recognized in England. The Magna Charta, a bond signed in 1215 that defined the rights of English citizens against the king, is an early model of a constitutional promise of due process (No Author, 2008, Free Dictionary).
• The right to a trial by jury- In suits at common law, where the worth in dispute shall exceed 20 dollars, the right to a trial by jury shall be maintained, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-evaluated in any Court of the United States than according to the guidelines of the common law (No Author, 2009, American Judicature Society).

One of the vastly used databases by law enforcement agencies is the Automated Fingerprint

Identification System (AFIS). This system is a high speed, high capacity image processing

system thatincreases the ability of the latent fingerprint examiners to investigate and identify

crime scene evidence incontrast to the ever-growing collection of fingerprint records. The

master fingerprint file contains morethan 4,100,000 fingerprint records and 28,000 palm prints

(No Author, n.d., Federal Bureau of Investigation).

The positive effects of this systems technology is that it provides a communication to law enforcement agents of a criminals fingerprint data within a period of 10 minutes. The IAFIS is the largest biometric database in the world, storing the fingerprints and criminal histories for approximately 66 million individuals in the databases master file, along with more than 25 million civil prints. Included in the criminal database are fingerprints from approximately 73,000 known and suspected terrorists processed by the United States or by international law enforcement agencies who work together. Prior to this system the process of submitting a ten-print fingerprint record was a manual, labor-intensive process and could take weeks or months to administer a submission. This system assists different criminal justice agencies with apprehending criminals. It provides historical criminal records that can assists with new andolder unsolved crimes(No Author, n.d., Federal Bureau of Investigation).

Criminal justice agencies face the challenge of staying on topof technology and the advancements. Computer technology advances so rapidly that if an organization is up-to-date today, its equipment will almost certainly be obsolete in six months. Many law enforcement departments do not have the budget to keep updating their equipment, so they fall behind of the rapid changes that take effect. The criminals that commit cyber-crimes do not have this issue because they are well financed and have the resources to keep up with the new and advanced technology (Curtis, 2000).

The various types of computer crime or cyber-crime, is any criminal activity committed with the use of a computer or the aid of a computer. The crime could be as plain as fraud, or as complex as stalking, murder, or child pornography, or other crimes that can be accomplished with a computer. A tool that criminals use today is the Internet, and he or she will take full advantage of the possibilities that wait for them on the Internet, and the potential victims. Although criminal acts as stalking and child pornography make the media headlines, the most common cyber-crime is white collar. This entails the compromise of credit cards numbers, bank account information, money, identity, and property such as software and data (Curtis, 2000).

Policing Systems

The system that American uses for the process of deterring criminals is exceptional by world standards with approximately 20,000 state and local law enforcement agencies in the United States. Other agencies that speak Englishhave a smaller force: Canada has 461, England has 43, India has 22, and Australia has eight. Additionally, most organizations in the United States are associated to each other because of overlapping jurisdictions within government organizations, including city, county, state, and federal agencies (No Author, 2011, jrank).

Assistance also arises between organizations at different tiers of government. Many state officers and highway patrol officersfurnish assistance on state roads, even when those highwayspass through neighborhoods with its own department. Agencies in states and counties also often furnish support to smaller law enforcement agencies, when the crime is more serious and violent, such as homicide, or rape. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) permits other law enforcement agencies the right to use the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database and the Automated Fingerprints Identification System (AFIS). Anotherfrequentprocedure for federal agencies (such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is to assist local and state jurisdictions to join forces in solving othercrimes when theycross jurisdictional precincts (No Author, 2011, jrank).
Cooperation among agencies also occurs at an international level. The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) permits law enforcement organizationsdata to transfersimply from officer to officer throughout borders, language obstacles, time zonesin the interest of justice.Even though INTERPOL is not an international police organization and has no police authority, it acts as a methodof communication between law enforcement agencies around the world. INTERPOL membership entails 176 different countries (No Author, 2011, jrank).

Major Crimes and Criminal Issues

A challenge that the criminal justice system faces daily is the war on drugs. International drug smuggling has transformed severely over the past 10 years. In the 1990s, 10 main Colombian cartel headquarters in Medellin and Cali, transported more than 80% of the drug cocaine that reached major markets in the United States. The operation Panama Express and many federal officials from Miami and New York charged the leaders of these cartels with trafficking cocaine, which slowed them down. Unfortunately, the production and transport of the drug hardly lessened because of the enormous profits available to the individuals in control. The operation Panama Express started in 1995 involving an investigation between the FBI and the DEA about three suspicious bank accounts located in Naples, Florida. The three bank accounts and others in Panama belonged to Jose CastrillonHenao, a Colombian cocaine boss. The investigation led to the prosecution of Castrillon and about two dozen more cocaine transporters in Tampa, Florida,who had been working the waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean. Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies have to contend with one of the toughest enemies as these agenciesfight the war on drugs. These types of criminals are well-financed, unethical, and deadly (Thomas, 2011).

Conclusion

Crime and justice are no longer just a state or national issue; it has become a global issue.Drawing on data and research has assisted a wide variety of crime prevention programs within the criminal justice and the dedication of international and national organizations in boosting expertise and the competence in crime deterrence (Newman, n.d.).

References

Curtis, P. (November 2000). Cyber Crime: The Next Challenge. An Overview of the Challenges Faced by Law Enforcement While Investigating Computer Crimes in the Year 2000 and Beyond. Retrieved from http://www.cji.edu/papers/Cyber%20Crime%20Paper.pdf

Newman, G. (n.d.). Global Report on Crime and Justice.United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention. Retrieved from http://www.uncjin.org/Special/GlobalReport.html

No Author. (2009). Juries In-depth-Right to a jury trial.American Judicature Society. Retrieved from http://www.ajs.org/jc/juries/jc_right_overview.asp

No Author. (2008). Due Process of Law. Free Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Due+Process+of+Law

No Author. (n.d.)Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System.Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/fingerprints_biometrics/iafis

No Author. (2011). UNODC and organized crime.United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Retrieved from http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/organized-crime/index.html

No Author. (2011). Police: Organization and Management – The American System of Policing. Jrank.org. Retrieved from http://law.jrank.org/pages/1668/Police-Organization-Management-American-system-policing.html

Thomas, K. (February 2011). A Model for Success in the Drug War. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/law-enforcement-bulletin/Feb_2011/feb2011-b.pdf

Vitamanti, G. (December 2007). U.S. law based on English Common Law.North County Times. Retrieved from http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/article_fa2c1730-e483-5e59-8ea1-1b2df9fcc62f.html